10 Times WWE Gambled On A New Gimmick Match
1. TLC
As much a triumph of marketing as anything else, the TLC match was essentially the Triangle Ladder match with a cute Mick Foley catchphrase used to promote it.
It wasn't an original WWE concept - the Sandman and Sabu had toiled with the same weapons in a torturous, incredibly shoddy match in ECW a few years prior - but WWE perfected it.
Too often, the critique surrounding the stipulation is lazy and disrespectful, accusing those who craft it as coordinating easy stunts for the sole purpose of the pop, but in the first TLC match, one glaring construction spot aside, those six men crafted a fantastic, absorbing, immersive match by deftly hiding and erecting incoming big bumps as premature, thwarted attempts to secure the early victory.
This was a gamble - Edge unknowingly mortgaged his run on top to get there through this vehicle - but it worked; the respect they earned in the original TLC matches tethered the Edges and Jeff Hardys to the fans forever.